


It was a....

by RGmolpus



Series: You Are Warned! [12]
Category: Vorkosigan Saga - Lois McMaster Bujold
Genre: Gen, scream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-07
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24592234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RGmolpus/pseuds/RGmolpus
Summary: Several 100 word stories. Be entertained!
Series: You Are Warned! [12]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1221524
Comments: 21
Kudos: 20





	1. Smoke gets in your eyes....

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Gywnne](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=Gywnne).
  * Inspired by [Regulations for Gender Equity in the Barrayaran Military - First Draft for Discussion](https://archiveofourown.org/works/148733) by [Gwynne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Gwynne/pseuds/Gwynne). 



> No offense intended to our Australian readers.

It was a dark and stormy night, full of rain and thunder.

Just what the foresters wanted.

Rain, to damp down the forest. Rain, to feed the grass and flowers.

Tomorrow the deer and rabbits would roam, feeding on the fresh growth.

Brief fires were needed, to keep the woodlands healthy. Urban busybodies protested when fires burned, thinking the burned sections would never recover... not knowing the flower filled meadows had once been covered by trees and native scrub. 

But now, in his tower watching the lightning flash and roar; rain falling, Lt. Yallow admired this 'Dark and Stormy Night'.


	2. Draft redux

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Too many words....

A draft.

Definition: An unwanted gust of wind.

Or

Too much air movement in the wrong place.

Replace 'wind' with 'words' and this is what he faced.

Another of the Admiral's drafts.

Too many words, all on a few pieces of flimsy.

Blow away the words, wind!

The Admiral expressed himself with force, now to shift those words into a form that was needed, not what he scribed.

Markov groaned.

Too many words. Blowing across his desk.

Retirement is too far away.

Lt. Markov bent his head and re-read the line:

"Now, where was I? Oh yes, sex. Or not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lt. Markov has his due....
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/works/148733


	3. Chapter 3

Fellow officers peered around the edge of the door.

All showed support for the unfortunate inside.

A new draft memo from the Admiral had arrived.

A new sisyphean task for Lt. Markov.

In silence they observed him.

Tonight, all would contribute to his bar tab.

Better him than them.

When the Admiral dictates.

What subject did the Admiral address?

What opinion has he recorded?

None wished to know.

That poor sod, Markov.

Better him than me!

(Silent thoughts not spoken: the time was coming for Markov's reassignment. His escape, our terror! What bribe to personnel will it take?)

Lost hope.


	4. ... and Counting.

Twenty-nine Days and counting.

Twenty-nine blessed by the Saints Days till salvation.

Twenty-nine days until the Admirals' mandatory retirement.

Twenty-nine days until salvation.

Time to hurry - choose a going away present, something for his wife - something for that warthog of a sister in law.

Time to fill out his transfer request, and a vacation form. Make reservations - Fast!

Time to schedule more sessions with the therapist.

Time to check the assignment rosters.

Time to ... Ahhh...

"Ah, Miller! just popped in to tell you the Emperor has approved my extension! I won't be retiring in a month! Jolly Good!, what?"

[SCREAM]


	5. Salvation or ???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lieutenant Markov gets a new assignment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Gwynne for creating Lt. Markov, and Rose Milburn for her current stories set on the South continent.
> 
> No spoilers

Lt. Markov was busy appearing to work at his desk. This was easy; a skill learned by every OpsHQ Lieutenant and Warrant officer within the first few weeks of assignment.

Appearing busy was a survival tactic for everyone on Rear Admiral Vorlaikal's staff. He was now the 'Last of the Dinosaur Vor' officers; kept on active duty at the whim of emperor Gregor Vorbarra. He should have retired three years ago, but the Emperor said he stays, so he stayed.

Lt. Markov had thought he'd be free of Vorlaikal three years ago; he'd almost had a nervous breakdown when news spread that the Rear Admiral was to stay on staff. Fortunately for the Lieutenant, Vorlakial had taken a month's holiday in celebration, allowing Markov to schedule a set of intense treatment sessions with a Impmed Psycher. The sessions had saved the Lieutenant's sanity - he wasn't flinching at the sound of old cavalry boots on floor tiles.

Captain Staffer - that really was his name - stuck his head into Lt. Markov's office. "Hey, Markov; good news! Orders have just arrived to send you somewhere else! Must be your lucky day!" 

Markov's head came up with his suspicion sense at 100%

"Sir, what just came in?"

"A transfer order. Seems you're being sent down south, to Vandeville. A temp assignment, it seems."

The Captain waved a flimsy in Markov's direction. Being the junor officer, it was Markov's task to walk the three steps to get it.

Markov speed-read the flimsy. It was, certainly, an order for detached duty, to aid a Captain Tuomonen of Impsec for a period of six weeks. Why Impsec?

Captain Staffer shrugged his shoulders. "You've got a high clearance; Impsec likes you for the directive memo you crafted in the Admiral's name about foreign diplomats, and there was some sort of big kaboom down south last month. Someone must want your composition skills."

This seems to good to be true - a reprieve from the Rear Admiral. Get a good review from this; maybe get assigned somewhere safe; like at a transfer station between here and Komarr.

No, there was a trap here.. had to be. The Ghods that ruled ImpOps acted only for their own amusement.

Markov re-read the memo looking at all the fine details. He found it - was sure he'd found it, on the last line. He knew, somewhere, a Deity was laughing.

"Signed, Imperial Auditor Captain Miles N. Vorkosigan".

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The preceding was inspired by Robert A. Heinlein:
> 
> Major Ian Hay, back in the “War to End War,” described the structure of military organizations: Regardless of T.O., all military bureaucracies consist of a Surprise Party Department, a Practical Joke Department, and a Fairy Godmother Department. The first two process most matters as the third is very small; the Fairy Godmother Department is one elderly female GS-5 clerk usually out on sick leave.
> 
> But when she is at her desk, she sometimes puts down her knitting and picks a name passing across her desk and does something nice. You have seen how I was whipsawed by the Surprise Party and Practical Joke Departments; this time the Fairy Godmother Department picked Pfc. Gordon.
> 
> -Glory Road-


End file.
